By plane
The Ithaca Tompkins County Regional Airport (http://www.flyithaca.com/), located northeast of the city has flights on US Airways to and from Philadelphia and New York Laguardia, on Delta Air Lines to and from Detroit, and on United Airlines to and from Newark. Hourly bus service to the Ithaca Commons and Cornell University are available on TCAT Route 32 weekdays and 72 weekends, until around 11pm each night 4pm on Sunday for $1.50, click (http://tcat.nextinsight.c...) for more information. Taxi service is also available, although you may have to wait for a cab to arrive, especially during peak hours. Its a good idea to call as soon as your plane lands and the crew notifies you that use of mobile phones is permitted.
Airports in Syracuse, Elmira, and Albany offer additional departures and sometimes cheaper fares, although Ithaca's fares have become much more competitive since the addition of United.
By train
Although Ithaca once had rail connections to New York City, Scranton, Philadelphia, Buffalo and several cities in New England, the last passenger train left Ithaca in 1961, with the majority of service ending in the 1930's. Today, the nearest Amtrak (http://www.amtrak.com/) stations are on the Empire Corridor in Syracuse and Rochester. There is one bus per day to Ithaca Greyhound Station from the Syracuse Amtrak station and two to three buses per day to Ithaca from the Rochester Trailways Bus Station, a three-minute walk from the Amtrak station. The two colleges sometimes run shuttles to the rail stations around semester breaks.
By car
By car, Ithaca is about 1 hour south of Syracuse, 1 hour north of Binghamton, 2 hours southeast of Rochester, 4 hours north of Philadelphia, and 4 hours northwest of New York City. The main routes into the city are New York highways 13, 79, 89, and 96. Interstate 86 formerly NY State Route 17 intersects NY State Rt 13 in Elmira, about 45 minutes southwest of Ithaca. Interstate 81 connects with NY State Rt 79 half an hour from Ithaca at Whitney Point, and with NY State Rt 13 about 20 minutes from Ithaca in Cortland. You can reach Interstate 81 by taking NY State Route 17 currently being transitioned to Interstate 86 West from New York City, or Interstate 476 North from Philadelphia. Interstate 90 connects to NY State Rt 96 near Geneva, NY, about 45 minutes from Ithaca.